The joy of kiteboarding – Blom is clearly enjoying himself during one of his two-hour day stints in the relay crossing.

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

We have lift off – Frans celebrates as the boat leaves landfall in the Canary Islands at the start of the team's 6000km journey across the Atlantic.

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

When the sun goes down – Blom is silhouetted against a glorious Atlantic sunset while using a jump technique.

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

Kiteboarding style – Gijsbers takes his turn on the kiteboard during the relay crossing of the Atlantic.

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

Captain fantastic – World champion sailor Eric van Vuuren skippered the support boat which was so crucial to the success of the relay team.

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

Change over – Gijsbers prepares to take over from Ringvold as he draws up alongside in a dinghy ready for his two-hour stint.

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High flyers: Kiteboard team conquer Atlantic15 photos

Marine life – A shoal of dolphins takes close order with the team's support boat during the Atlantic crossing.

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Facebook winner – Little was the sole American on the team that made the 6,000km crossing of the Atlantic.

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Welcome party – An arrival party awaited the triumphant team at the Blue Haven Resort and Marina in the Turks & Caicos.

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Champagne moment – A well deserved spraying of the traditional champagne awaited the team and its helpers on arrival.

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Team work pays – The victorious team is in the mood to celebrate after the epic crossing 6,000km crossing of the Atlantic.

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Story highlights

Six-strong team of kiteboarders set record for relay crossing of Atlantic

6,000km journey from Canary Islands to Turks and Caicos Islands

27-day venture with each kiteboarder doing four hours per day

Team encountered sharks and severe weather systems

It's not every day you get a chance to kiteboard across the Atlantic evading sharks after winning a social media competition.

Eric Little's day job in insurance and retirement planning had hardly prepared him for the "scary experience" of coming up close and personal with a shark during a daredevil crossing of the Atlantic in a six-strong team of kiteboarders.

Little, nicknamed 'Pequeno' -- Spanish for small -- was cruising the waves on the second day out of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands when he spotted the unmistakable fins "about 24 feet away" from his rig.

The 30-year-old from West Bloomfield in Michigan was the final team member to be selected after winning a Facebook competition and had to put up with constant ribbing from his fellow team members about the incident during the remainder of the 27-day landmark crossing of the ocean.

Kiteboarding harnesses the power of the wind using a large kite suspended on four lines and Little learned the ropes of the sport on the Great Lakes, but conditions in the Atlantic were altogether more challenging.

Apart from the odd encounter with sharks, he also rode through schools of flying fish and had the unusual experience of surfing the waves through the night.

The team, consisting of Little, four Dutchman and one woman -- 30-year-old Camilla Ringvold -- were assigned two shifts of two hours each per day -- one in the daylight and one at night -- so constant progress was made on the 4,000 mile (6,000km) plus crossing to their destination in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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A support boat -- a Lagoon 500 catamaran -- was a constant companion, with five crew members including the Dutch professional sailor Erik van Vuuren as team captain.

Van Vuuren is a three-time world champion -- competing against the likes of Britain's sailing great Ben Ainslee -- but for the 43-year-old Dutchman this was an altogether different challenge.

Constant vigilance was required in case the kiteboarders were dumped into the waters at high speeds, particularly in the dark and the crew had to develop rigorous safety procedures.

Only at the finish after nearly a month at sea did Van Vuuren understand the physical and mental demands. "When we came into the harbor I suddenly realized how tired I was," he told CNN.

With his sailing expertise, Van Vuuren was one of the first people recruited to the challenge, which was the brainchild of Filippo van Hellenberg Hubar, who set up the Enable Passion Foundationwith the express aim of completing inspiring and original challenges.

Ground breaking feat

"We have done something groundbreaking," said the 30-year-old Dutchman, but admitted he was in a "state of shock" at the finish on December 17.

Van Hellenberg Hubar, found the night sessions the most exhilarating, "the only thing you could see was the rope and the kite in front of you."

He added: "Kitesurfing really went places with this challenge."

Kiteboarding or kitesurfing may indeed be going places, with another crew member, Max Blom, 28, from Amsterdam confident it will eventually be included in the Summer Olympics.

Only a late volte face by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) saw a decision to replace windsurfing with kitesurfing for the 2016 Games in Rio reversed.

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Blom makes his living in the sport's industry and believes its growing popularity lies in its wide appeal with all ages able to participate.

"You can just cruise around, but for me kitesurfing is a physical sport and very competitive."

During the Atlantic crossing, Blom lived up to his ethos, determined to clock up the most distance for a two-hour stint. "74 kilometers," he said proudly.

But he also acknowledged that it had been very much a team affair, with the only female team member playing her full part. "Camilla was the lightest and took on the most squalls."

Girl power

Indeed Ringvold, from Norway, proved her worth on many occasions, particularly in lighter winds as they became becalmed. "I would definitely do it again. I did not want to get off the boat," she reflected.

The other female to actively participate -- a woman producer from a Dutch TV channel was on board to film the action -- was medic Sophie Cohen - a 28-year-old doctor from Amsterdam, who specializes in paediatrics.

She was selected for her professional abilities and is also a trained sailor.

But despite that experience, she admitted to a degree of trepidation throughout the challenge, in case of a major injury.

"A shark bite, or high impact trauma, that would have been a real problem," she said. "We were really alone in the middle of the ocean."

Little's brush with a shark aside, the closest Cohen came to that nightmare scenario was an accident which befell Dennis Gijsbers, who "got it a bit wrong" at the start of a new stint.